A Ruan took the ebony token given by the teenager and stumbled into the Ningxiang Pavilion in the southeast corner of the Royal Garden. The attic is hidden behind the dense pine forest, with copper locks all year round, but at this moment the door is closed. The candlelight in the room was bright. An old woman in a gray preaching robe was waiting in front of the case. When she saw her coming in, her eyes fell on the baby on her back and sighed softly: "I have written down your instructions."
Ten years later, Ningxiang Pavilion became Shen Ruhui's cage and her shelter. The old concubine was originally the royal doctor in the palace. She was demoted for angering the queen and hid here. She taught Shen Ruhui to know herbs and distinguish poisons, and also taught her to read history books and practice martial arts - the books of the soldiers of the previous dynasty were hidden in the pavilion, and a short sword was buried under the bluestone slab under the window lattice. Shen Ruhui's childhood was spent in the fragrance of medicine and sword light.
The days of the cold palace are boiled out with frozen fingers and worn knees. In the cold winter and the twelfth lunar month, she had to kneel in the snow for half an hour just to listen to the old woman's lecture on medicine; in the middle of summer, she had to practice swordsmanship in the attic, sweat soaked in her coarse cloth dress, and even her hand holding the sword was shaking. A Ruan was afraid that she couldn't stand it, so he secretly hid her sword, but she found her and said with red eyes, "Sister, if I'm not good, how can I avenge my mother?"
At the age of ten, Yuyuan had a rat disease, and the old woman was bitten and had a high fever. Shen Ruhui turned out of the Ningxiang Pavilion in the middle of the night and picked herbs by the imperial ditch with his memory, but he bumped into Jin Yiwei on patrol. She held her breath and hid in the reeds, looking at the light of the knife in the moonlight. For the first time, she understood how heavy the word "alive" was. At the same time, she learned to make drugs with herbs, stunned the little eunuch who chased her, dragged her muddy body back to the attic, and applied medicine to the old woman with trembling hands.
When he was thirteen years old, the old woman died of illness. Before her death, she gave half a tiger charm to Shen Ruhui and said intermittently, "This is what your grandfather... left for you. In the future... If you are in danger, you can use it to find the 'Huiyue'..." Shen Ruhui held the old woman's cold body and did not cry, but hid the tiger charm in the collar. From then on, only A Ruan and revenge were left in her world. The idea of.
The candlelight of Ningxiang Pavilion is lit day after day. Shen Ruhui read all the military books in the pavilion, practiced swordsmanship, and also figured out the veins in the palace - she knew the weakness of the empress, the suspicions of the emperor, and the weight of the Zhenbei Palace. She is like a weed growing in the crevice of the stone, silently accumulating strength in an unknown corner, waiting for a chance to break out of the ground.
Dayin · The 28th year of Zhaoming · Hua Asahi
The afterglow of the Shangyuan Festival has not been dissipated. The snow in the capital has just half melted, and the thousands of lanterns hanging on both sides of the imperial street are still a little lively. The officials of the Ministry of Rituals have held the Minghuang edict, stepped on the undried snow, and spread a marriage edict inside and outside the imperial city--
"Shen, the criminal slave of the cold palace, was abandoned, and the special pardon was good. He married Zhenbei Wangfu, married the seventh son, Xiao Hao, and chose the auspicious on the 15th day of the middle of spring, and the marriage was completed."
As soon as the edict was issued, the court and the court were in an uproar. After the founding of the country, Xiao Shi, the king of Zhenbei, held 300,000 northern iron horsemen in his hand and was stationed at the border gate all the year round. He was known as the "Great Wall of the North" and was the most unshakable noble force of Dayin. But Xiao Hao, the seventh son, is a well-known "sick seedling" in the capital--
At the age of three, he fell into the cold pool and suffered from lifelong wheezing. Every rainy day, he coughed heartbreakingly. At the age of eight, he hunted with his father and accidentally fell off the horse and broke his spine. After that, he could not stand for a long time. At the age of sixteen, he took the initiative to garrison the border, but was ambushed by the enemy and his lungs were pierced by a poisonous arrow. Although he picked up a life, he was affirmed by the imperial doctor that "it was difficult to overcome the weak crown". Now that he is 24 years old, he lies in bed all day long, with medicinal gas. People in Beijing privately call him "Sick Hell", saying that he is the life of "living one day and earning one day".
To marry a criminal slave who crawled out of the cold palace to such a terminally ill prince, everyone can see that this is the deliberate humiliation of the royal family - not only hitting the face of the Zhenbei Palace, forcing it to express its loyalty, but also cutting off the back road of Shen's daughter, so that she will never turn over.
Cold Palace · Ningxiang Pavilion
A Ruan was holding the roll of yellow silk edict, his knuckles turned white because of the force, and his eyes were red: "Miss, they are pushing you into the fire pit! Where is Zhenbei Wangfu? Xiao Hao is a sick seedling who won't live long. If you get married, you will either be angry or widowed!"
Shen Ruhui was sitting in front of the bronze mirror, and the sunlight outside the window fell on her pale face through the window lattice. More than ten years of cold palace years have made her more calm than girls of the same age. There is no greenness between her eyebrows. On the contrary, there is a coldness that does not match her age, like a dagger quenched by cold jade. It usually hides sharpness, but only a little sharpness is left in the depths of the bottom of the eyes.
She raised her hand to stroke the bronze green on the edge of the bronze mirror, and her voice was as faint as the wind in the empty valley: "Fire pit?" The corners of her lips rose slightly and showed a faint smile. "If this fire pit can burn through the iron net of the deep palace and allow me to get close to those who killed my mother, then it is my ladder."
The candlelight on the case swayed, reflecting her shadow swaying on the wall, suddenly bright and dark. She took out a small silver hairpin from her sleeve, and a lotus flower was engraved on the head of the hairpin - it was a relic left to her by the old woman, and it was also a silver hairpin for detoxification. A Ruan, have you forgotten?" She whispered, "There has been a grudge between the empress and the Zhenbei Palace. The emperor gave me to Xiao Hao because he wanted us to restrain each other. But he didn't expect that I would use this marriage to mess up this game.
Zhenbei Wangfu · Ting Xuexuan
Xiao Hao was leaning on the soft couch, wrapped in a snow-white fox fur. The hair on the neckline was fluffy and soft, but it still couldn't hide his pale face. He just drank a bowl of soup medicine, and now he is coughing in a low voice, his shoulders tremble slightly, and even his breathing is a little sluggish.
Bodyguard Mo Xiao knelt on one knee, holding a secret report in both hands, and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, the marriage edict in the palace has been issued. Your Majesty's attitude is resolute, and there is no room for turning around."
Xiao Hao's fingertips gently crossed the words "Shen's abandonment" on the secret report, and his nails were faintly blue and white. He suddenly laughed in a low voice, with a little hoarseness in his laughter, but a hint of imperceptible sharpness: "Shen... More than ten years ago, Shen's 'died' in the cold palace. Everyone thought that the Shen family was the queen, but they didn't expect the emperor to dig out this chess piece buried in the cold palace."
He coughed more and raised his hand to cover his lips with a plain white handkerchief. After the cough subsided, the handkerchief was dyed a little scarlet. But his eyes were amazingly bright, like the stars in the cold night, with a little playfulness and a little coldness: "Prepare the sedan chair." He opened his mouth slowly. Although his voice was weak, there was no doubt. "I want to enter the palace and thank you personally."
Mo Xiao was stunned and quickly dissuaded: "Your Majesty, your health... It's a long way to enter the palace, and I'm afraid it will aggravate your condition. Why don't you let your subordinates go for you?"
"No need." Xiao Hao shook his head and twisted the blood stains on the handkerchief with his fingertips. "Since the emperor has sent a 'big gift' to me, if the king doesn't 'receive' it' in person, wouldn't it disappoint his 'heart'?"
Yuan Night Snack · Taihe Hall
The Taihe Hall was brightly lit, and there was a table of royal banquets in the hall. The emperor sat high on the dragon chair, playing with a gold-plated wine barrel in his hand, and looked down at Xiao Hao under the steps. The cold wind whistled outside the hall, but the hall was as warm as spring, but this warmth could not dispel the cold on Xiao Hao's body.
Xiao Hao bent down to bow, moving slowly but without breaking the rules. The snow-white fox fur dragged on the ground, like a snow that was about to melt. Because of the old injury, his waist and spine could not be bent too low, but even so, his posture was still calm and not flattering.
"Qilang," the emperor suddenly smiled, with a little deliberate gentleness in his voice, "I know that you are not in good health, so I specially chose a meek wife for you. Although the daughter of the Shen family was born in a cold and wei, she is also a well-eduted and reasonable person. Are you happy?"
Xiao Hao slowly looked up. His pupils were very light. Under the reflection of the palace lamp, he was like two frozen wells, half a temperature. Your Majesty, thank you for your kindness." He said word by word, and each word was clearly heard in the ears of everyone in the hall, with an inspeakable meaning.
The emperor laughed, and the laughter echoed in the hall. He raised his hand to drink all the wine in the wine barrel, and then threw it casually. The wine barrel fell on the jade steps, and the scarlet wine flowed down the steps, like a winding blood stain - as if he was previewing in advance. On the night of the wedding, someone's blood would splash on the Phoenix Pavilion.
Xiao Hao looked at the pool of wine, and the coldness in his eyes was even worse, but he still maintained a calm expression and bowed down. When he walked out of the Taihe Hall, the cold wind blew towards him, and he couldn't help coughing again. Mo Xiao quickly handed over the heater, but he waved his hand to refuse: "No, this cold wind can't die."
Mid-Spring 15th · Zhenbei Wangfu
On the day of the wedding, the royal palace in the north of the town was decorated with lanterns, and the red carpet of Dansai was spread from the door of the house to the wedding hall. No matter how bright the red color was, it could not hide the medicinal fragrance and the murderous atmosphere in the house. The outside of the house was crowded with people watching the excitement, but the guests in the house had their own thoughts, with a little sarcasm and curiosity in their eyes - everyone wanted to see what the criminal slave who came out of the cold palace looked like; and even more wanted to see how this absurd marriage would end.
Shen Ruhui was wearing a red phoenix crown, and the pearl on the crown swayed gently with her footsteps, reflecting her face particularly bright. But behind her, there was no figure of her father and brother, and there was no gentleness of her mother to caress her temples. Only A Ruan held her sleeves and followed her carefully.
They walked through the corridor, and the guests on both sides whispered, and those sounds stuck into their ears like needles--
"Look at her like that. How can she look like a princess? She is obviously a little maid!"
"I heard that she grew up in the cold palace and didn't even know etiquette. Maybe she lost face in the palace!"
"In my opinion, she can't even enter the cave. Look at the prince's body. I'm afraid he will faint after coughing..."
There were sneers and discussions, but Shen Ruhui seemed not to hear it. His steps were calm, and every step was steady and firm, as if he was not stepping on the red carpet, but the blade. The hem of her skirt fluttered gently in the wind, like a burning flame, silently cutting through the surrounding rumors.
Xitang
In the wedding hall, the candlelight was high, and the word "囍" was pasted all over the beams and pillars. The ceremonial officer stood in the hall and sang loudly: "Worship heaven and earth--"
Shen Ruhui stood side by side with Xiao Hao. She bent her knees slightly, and her movements were standard and elegant; Xiao Hao just bent down symbolically, so she couldn't help coughing, and her face turned a little paler.
"Erbai Zongmiao--"
The two bowed again, and Xiao Hao's cough became heavier. He raised his hand to cover his lips with a handkerchief, and a trace of scarlet oozed between his fingers.
"Husband and wife worship each other--"
As soon as the voice of the ceremonial officer fell, Xiao Hao suddenly raised his hand to stop Shen Ruhui's action. He covered his lips and coughed violently. His body swayed and almost fell down. Mo Xiao quickly came forward to support him, but saw that the handkerchief in his hand had been dyed red with blood, and a little scarlet fell on the white wedding dress, like a blooming cold plum.
"Your Majesty!" Xi Niang exclaimed, her face was full of panic, "Would you like to take a rest first?"
"It doesn't matter." Xiao Hao waved his hand, his voice hoarse, but still with a little dignity, "Continue."
The ceremonial officer sang the last sentence in a trembling voice. According to the rules, the groom should personally take the bride's red silk, lead her into the cave, and then pick up the red hood. But Xiao Hao just threw the red silk to Mo Xiao casually and said lightly, "Send the princess to the palace."
When the words fell, the wedding hall fell into a dead silence in an instant. Everyone was stunned - what a humiliation! Even if it is the marriage of ordinary people's family, there is no reason to let the bride enter the cave alone, not to mention the big wedding of the Zhenbei Wangfu?
Shen Ruhui stood in place, and the phoenix crown Xiaqi was particularly dazzling under the candlelight. She could feel that everyone's eyes fell on her, with sympathy, mockery and contempt. But she still straightened her back, not half embarrassed, but the chill in her eyes was a little stronger.
Night · Back Hall
The door of the back hall was slammed shut. A Ruan trembled with anger and rushed to the door and slapped the door: "Your Majesty! Today is the wedding day. How can you let the young lady stay here alone? This is a humiliation to the young lady!"
"A Ruan, back off." Shen Ruhui's voice came from behind, calm without a trace of wave. She raised her hand and took off the phoenix crown on her head. The pearl rolled down and made a crisp sound. She took off the phoenix crown and showed a pure face. There was no grievance between her eyebrows, only a calmness that saw through everything.
A Ruan turned around and looked at her with red eyes: "Miss, he is too much! Even if you are a criminal slave, you should not be so angry!"
Shen Ruhui walked to the front of the case. There was no wine or happy fruit on the case. There was only a neatly folded Xuan paper with "Princess Rules of Zhenbei Palace" written on it. She picked up the Xuan paper and slowly unfolded it. The handwriting on it was strong and powerful, but there was a cold determination:
I. The princess is not allowed to leave the back hall without permission, and is not allowed to talk to any subordinates in the house without permission.
II. The prince slept in Ting Xuexuan, and the princess was not allowed to enter without a summons, let alone disturb the prince's rest without permission.
III. Within a year, the princess needs to give birth to a child for the prince. If she fails to do so, she needs to ask for divorce and return to the cold palace.
At the inscription, there is the word "Xiao Hao", outlined in red, like a blood-colored shackle.
A Ruan came over and saw the content. He was so angry that he burst into tears: "This is not a government rule? It's obviously difficult! Miss, we can't recognize it!"
Shen Ruhui raised her hand, gently stroked the ink marks on the paper with her fingertips, and suddenly smiled: "The handwriting is good, but it's a pity that the ink is mixed with blood." She looked up at A Ruan, with a cold light in her eyes. "Go get the pen and ink. I want a letter back to him."
Zi Shi·Ling Xuexuan
Listening to Xuexuan, the medicinal gas is pervasive. Xiao Hao leaned on the soft couch with a pale face as paper. Mo Xiao was kneeling in front of him and reading Shen Ruhui's reply in a low voice: "Shen's reply - 'I have been ordered by His Majesty to marry into the palace. I should abide by the rules of the palace and dare not violate them. However, as for the heirs in Article 3, I think that the heirs are destined by heaven and cannot be forced by manpower. The prince is weak. If he is exhausted, he may aggravate his condition, which is not good for his health. I have a little sense of medicine. In the future, I can serve soup and medicine for the prince every day to fulfill my wife's duty.'"
After listening, Xiao Hao suddenly laughed in a low voice. As soon as the ridiculous sound came out, it triggered a violent cough. He coughed so much that his heart and lungs were tearing, and there were more and more blood stains on the handkerchief, dripping on the reply, and fainting a red cloud.
"Good at medicine?" He muttered, and a trace of playfulness flashed in his eyes. "I want to see if she wants to save me or take the opportunity to kill me."
Mo Xiao said worriedly, "Your Majesty, the origin of the Shen family is unknown, and he has been in the cold palace for more than ten years. His mind must be deep. You'd better be careful."
Xiao Hao waved his hand and took the reply. His fingertips gently brushed the handwriting on the paper, and his voice was low: "The deeper your mind is, the more interesting I feel. Did the emperor send her here to make her the eyeliner, or to let her disturb the palace? Whatever it is, I have taken over it. He paused and raised a cold smile at the corner of his mouth, "Go and tell her that I, the king, am waiting for her soup."
Deeper · Back Hall
The candlelight in the back hall was still on. Shen Ruhui sat in front of the bronze mirror, scattered her bun, and her dark long hair fell on her shoulders like a waterfall. She took out a small silver scissors from her sleeve, held the tip of the scissors with her fingertips, and aimed it at the center of her throat--
"Miss!" A Ruan was so scared that he quickly rushed over and held her hand, "What are you going to do? Don't think about it!"
"Shh." Shen Ruhui shook his head gently, turned the tip of the scissors, and gently stroked his fingertips. A drop of bright red blood rolled down. She quickly took out an empty medicine bottle and catched the blood. This is a drug introduction." She whispered, with a firm light in her eyes, "Xiao Hao's disease can't be cured by ordinary soup medicine. It needs to be used with my blood as a guide to temporarily suppress it."
A Ruan looked at the wound on her fingertips and was heartbroken: "Miss, why are you so miserable? He treated you like that, and you still save him?"
"I didn't save him." Shen Ruhui lid the medicine bottle and carefully put it into her sleeve. "I'm paving the way for myself. If he dies, I will have no foothold in the palace; if he is alive, I can use his identity to find out the truth of my mother's death.
The wind and snow outside the window suddenly became bigger, making the window lattice "clang", and the candlelight swayed violently and almost went out. Shen Ruhui raised her eyes and looked at the bronze mirror. The girl in the mirror looked cold and white, and the corners of her lips were stained with blood, like good rouge and sharp blade light. She knew that from tonight, her battlefield had moved from the cold palace to the royal palace in the north of the town, and the war had just begun.
Dawn · Outside the back hall
Before the sky was bright, the lead-gray clouds were pressed extremely low. Last night's residual snow condensed into ice edges at the corners of the eaves. As soon as the wind blew, it fell and hit the bluestone slabs to make a fine sound. The silence of the palace in the north of the town was completely torn apart by a sudden and dull death bell - "Dang-dang-dang-dang-"
The bell came from the direction of the courtyard, heavier and heavier, like a hammer knocking on the tip of everyone's heart. The subordinates in the house got up one after another and ran to the side courtyard sleepily. Soon, the horrified shouts exploded: "Dead! It's a servant from the palace!"
Everyone crowded outside the guest room of the courtyard and looked in through the crack of the door - the maid lay straight on the couch, his eyes wide open, and dark red drops of blood oozed out of the seven tips, flowing down their cheeks to the pillow, condensed into dark scabs. The most terrible thing is that the corners of his mouth were raised up, with a strange smile, as if he had seen something blissful before his death, or was haunted by some evil.
"It must be the demon girl from the cold palace!" I don't know who shouted, which instantly ignited everyone's emotions.
"Yes! Yesterday's big wedding, today's death. Who is she?"
"I heard that all the people who came out of the cold palace know evil magic. It must be that she was afraid that the servant would speak ill of her, so she poisoned her!"
The sound of discussion spread like a tide. Soon, a team of bodyguards in iron armor surrounded the back hall where Shen Ruhui was. The "clam" sound and footsteps of the friction of the iron armor, mixed with the whistling of wind and snow, made the whole back hall feel a murderous atmosphere.
Xiao Hao wore a mysterious fox fur, supported by Mo Xiao, and walked slowly to the door of the back hall. The fox fur collar covered half of his face, revealing only a pale jaw and a pair of ice-cold eyes. He held the reply written by Shen Ruhui in his hand, and the edge of the letter was still stained with the blood he coughed yesterday, which was dark red in the morning light.
"Shen," he said, his voice was hoarse because of coughing, but there was an unquestionable dignity. "The servant in the courtyard was killed violently, and the seven tips were bleeding. Everyone in the house said it was your fault. How do you explain it?"
The door of the hall slowly opened with a "squeak", and Shen Ruhui came out. She didn't apply foundation, but only wore a plain white nightgown. She stepped on the thin snow with her bare feet. Her ankles were frozen red, but she seemed to be unconscious. She held a small white porcelain medicine bottle in the palm of her hand. The bottle was clean, only the bottom of the bottle was stained with a circle of dark red blood, like a chain painted with vermilion, firmly locking the bottle.
The cold wind brushed her hair and pressed it to her cheek, but she didn't care. She just looked up at Xiao Hao. Her voice was as soft as snow, but the words were clearly heard in everyone's ears: "I got up in the morning and boiled the medicine. I was about to send it to the prince, but I didn't expect to hear the death bell first."
She paused and glanced at the bodyguards with swords around her. The corners of her lips evoked a faint smile, but there was no waves in the bottom of her eyes, and there was still a cold calm: "Zhong Ming's funeral may be alert to the prince - in this palace, there are things that can make people bleed. If the prince refuses to drink the medicine of the concubine's body, the next one will lie in the side courtyard and bleed. How do you know that it is not you?"
The snow fell on her face, reflecting her smile with a little chill and a little determination. Xiao Hao's pupils contracted slightly, his eyes fell on the medicine bottle in her palm, and his fingertips unconsciously stroked the cold porcelain surface of the bottle - he clearly saw that the blood stains on the bottom of the bottle were somewhat similar to the blood color on his reply.
After a moment of silence, he suddenly laughed out loud, with a little playfulness and a little imperceptible recognition in his laughter. The cough came again. He bent down and coughed a few times, and his fingertips were stained with some blood, but he still stretched out his hand and handed it in the direction of the medicine bottle: "Okay, my king--" He paused, adding a little solemnity to his voice, "Then I will take this to the princess."
Shen Ruhui leaned over slightly and handed the medicine bottle to him. The fingertips of the two people gently touched each other at the mouth of the bottle - his fingertips were as cold as ice, which was the coldness of the year-round bed; her fingertips had a trace of warmth, which was the residual temperature of the medicine. One cold and one hot, like the ice blade briefly clashed with the flame, and then quickly separated.
Xiao Hao took the medicine bottle and held it in his palm. The cold porcelain surface relieved his cough a little. He looked up at Shen Ruhui, and the coldness in his eyes faded a little, and he was more inquiring: "The princess's medicine, I will drink it. But the death of the chamberlain, I will also investigate - if it really has nothing to do with the princess, I will definitely return your nocencent.
Shen Ruhui nodded slightly and didn't say much. She just returned to the hall barefoot. The door of the hall slowly closed behind her, isolating the wind, snow and eyes outside.
In the sky in the distance, the ink-colored clouds are still rolling, but there is a faint sunlight, which is about to be bright. The armored guards outside the back hall gradually dispersed, leaving only the wind and snow still whistling, as if telling the story of the war that had just begun without smoke.
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